Generally, a laundry treating apparatus includes a cabinet, an outer tub disposed within the cabinet, and an inner tub rotatably disposed within the outer tub and containing laundry for drying.
A laundry treating apparatus capable of drying laundry supply heated air (hot air) to laundry. Based on a method of handing air that is humidified by contact with laundry, the laundry treating apparatus capable of drying laundry may be classified as an exhaust-type drying system which exhausts the air to the outside, a circulation-type drying system which adjusts temperature and humidity of the air and supplies the air back to laundry, or a hybrid drying system which discharges part of the air and supplies the rest of the air back to laundry.
A laundry treating apparatus having the circulation-type drying system or the hybrid drying system includes a circulation conduit that guides at least part of air in the outer tub to come out from the outer tub and be then supplied back to the outer tub.
However, the air moving along the circulation conduit includes a foreign substance from laundry, such as lint. In particular, if the inner tub rotates during a drying stroke, friction of the laundry occurs and thus foreign substances could increase more. In this case, the foreign substances becomes attached to a temperature and humidity adjustment device provided in the circulation conduit, thereby causing malfunction of the device or dampening operation efficiency, and foreign substances included in air supplied back to the outer tub can be stuck to the laundry.
To solve this problem, an existing technology has suggested a filter disposed within a circulation conduit to remove foreign substances. The existing technology includes a nozzle for spraying water to the filter to automatically remove foreign substances accumulated on the filter.